Cause and Effect

We will be taking down the excessive yard decorations this weekend sometime. But before we do, I thought I'd post a much-belated photo of our light extravaganza. (Unfortunately, the pictures do not do it justice since we have such a sprawling corner lot (that's the lot, not the house that's sprawling...just to be clear) and it's hard to photo the entire scene at once.)




John efficiently set up some light timers for the Christmas lights. And after a couple hours the first evening, this is the unfortunate effect all that electricity had on one of our poor light timers:



I believe it was smoking when John discovered it.

With modest electricity usage in other areas of the house while the Christmas lights are glowing, avoiding any usage of the vacuum cleaner or hairdryer, and setting up multiple surge protectors we found a way to continue lighting the entire outdoor show this holiday season.

It's kind of a shame to take it all down, but I refuse to be the neighbors whose Christmas lights become a permanent fixture on their house.